Are you a saver or a tosser?

Baxter'smybaby

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#1
I have spent my entire day cleaning out my cedar chest--which is full of items from my kids school days, birthday cards, etc. 3 kids--the youngest one is 20--so you do the math! I have cleaned through and tossed about half of it--but did decide to hang onto some of their artwork, report cards, and some birthday cards.
I found it difficult to let go of some things--especially cards from those who have passed on.

So tell me, am I alone in my hoarding tendency? Do you keep, or do you toss?
 

Fran101

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#2
Toss.
Living in a tiny studio apartment teaches you nothing if not how to not waste storage space lol
I've never been very sentimental about things.. and I've always liked the look of very neat minimalist places, so, things don't tend to hang around lol

If it can't be A. Incorporated into the wall art/decor somehow OR B. Shoved into my ONE shoebox of random keepsakes.. it gets tossed.
Some things get scanned/saved first (special letters, cards people took time to write, pictures etc..) but yea, most things just get dumped lol
 

ACooper

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#3
Not alone. I have a few crates full of school items........artwork, report cards, certain interesting things. I kept the Time magazine flyers they handed out once a month when my oldest was in first grade.......they are a GREAT time line for that year.

I have stacks of cards, ribbons, perfect attendance awards, science medals....blah blah blah. Important to them then, they don't care about them now, but I need to hold them 'cause they might want them later! LOL

I am not one for saving holiday cards though, sometimes wish I had them all back though.
 

Lyzelle

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#4
I toss everything I can get my hands on. Keepsakes, sentimental things, papers, books, knickknacks, pictures, people....

I don't hold onto much. I like clean, minimalistic things.
 

crazedACD

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#5
I do tend to keep a lot of things that are sentimental to me, but I throw out the less meaningful birthday cards and stuff. I've moved across country so many times I have really trimmed down in what I keep. I do have token type items from various things I find from time to time and am thankful I hung on to them, it's nice to look at them. I keep meaning to start a box of memory stuff.
 

Fran27

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#8
Toss. I've moved 4 times and one of them was an overseas move and I was only able to bring a suitcase of stuff, lol. So I don't really care about stuff, usually.

My main issue is to find ways to get rid of things. I don't want to trash books or toys, but sorting through everything is torture. So it just sits in bins...
 

Southpaw

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#10
Oh God I save everything. It's ridiculous. I LOVE the look of clean, clutter-free spaces but I will never be able to achieve that lol. I have a billion storage bins because I can't bear to part with things. They hold too many memories! "Memories" that I would completely forget about if I didn't have that item to remind me of it.

I keep pictures, notes, school projects, ticket stubs from everything, cards, drawings.... even clothes! I have so many t-shirts that I don't wear but it's like "oh, I got this on my trip to Chicago!" or "I made this in elementary school!" :rolleyes:

Every time I clean, I tell myself I'm going to purge and get rid of the things that don't have meaning behind them. But I CAN'T DO IT.
 

Shai

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#11
I'm somewhere in between. I'm probably naturally a saver but all the moving taught me to only keep stuff that I really will use/wear/care about again. So I toss, recycle, or give away a lot of stuff.

But I also like to repurpose what I can and repair rather than replace so there is a line somewhere in there that I try to walk lol
 

Dogdragoness

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#13
I am both ... A saver & a tosser .. Tho if it was like ... drawings from when the kids were younger or something, old pictures of trips or whatever or trophies/awards then I would toss em.

You could always donate any clothes you might have ... It might make you feel better about parting with them.

Of course of I had a huge Attic to store things in then I wouldn't worry about it.
 

Southpaw

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#14
This thread inspired me to once again attempt to throw things out. I went through everything in my "memory bin" lol....have a very small stack of things to toss. Which is pretty good for me. I have birthday cards from every year, going back till I was 12... I'm 21 now.... :lol-sign: And I'm not throwing out a single one!
 

milos_mommy

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#15
Somewhat in the middle.

I keep a lot of sentimental things, ticket stubs, letters, programs, and more random things like dried flowers from certain places, etc. I also keep shirts like Soutpaw, "BUT I GOT THIS IN DENVER. BUT I WORE THIS ON OUR FIRST DATE. BUT I MADE THIS FOR THE PARADE." and have way too many clothes.

But I hate collecting STUFF. I throw out birthday cards unless they're handmade or really sentimental, Christmas cards unless they have a picture of someone's kid on them, I don't keep any kind of papers, receipts, forms, including bank and tax stuff I probably should keep. I try to get rid of stuffed animals but people continually buy them for me and it's a horrible neverending cycle.

Compared to most people I probably keep an awful lot of stuff, but I'm way way better than I used to be.
 
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#16
I married a saver. I'm trying to convince him that he probably doesn't need the note the girl he had a crush on in middle school is worth saving. Or the random pencil topper he found on the playground. It's not working so well. But I give his a round of applause everytime he throws something out.
 

CharlieDog

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#17
Somewhere in the middle. I try to remember that throwing things away that have a memory attached doesn't mean I'm throwing the memory away. It makes it easier to get rid of stuff, but I still keep way too much stuff. Once or twice a year I go through the house and purge though. I always feel better about everything when the house is nice and clean and minimalist.

I like minimalism, but it's so hard for me to achieve. DH is one to throw stuff away though, so he helps keep me in balance. He's got his own sorts of things he won't throw away though, like old guitar/bass strings he keeps "just in case" even though he'll never use them again, and he's got two or three packs of new strings :p
 

CaliTerp07

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#18
THROW IT ALL AWAY!

I hate hate hate "stuff". I have one file folder in our fire box filled with the love letters my husband has given me over the years. Everything else is tossed as soon as possible if it isn't usable in some way/shape/form.
 

JacksonsMom

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#19
Oh God I save everything. It's ridiculous. I LOVE the look of clean, clutter-free spaces but I will never be able to achieve that lol. I have a billion storage bins because I can't bear to part with things. They hold too many memories! "Memories" that I would completely forget about if I didn't have that item to remind me of it.

I keep pictures, notes, school projects, ticket stubs from everything, cards, drawings.... even clothes! I have so many t-shirts that I don't wear but it's like "oh, I got this on my trip to Chicago!" or "I made this in elementary school!" :rolleyes:

Every time I clean, I tell myself I'm going to purge and get rid of the things that don't have meaning behind them. But I CAN'T DO IT.

I USED to be like this. I had to learn to tell myself "I will NEVER miss this if it's gone... this will NEVER be used" hahaha.

Now, I'm a tosser. I cleaned out my whole room a few months ago and just realized how much... junk I had. Just crap that will never get used.

I mean, I will hold on to some things still, but for the most part, I've turned into a tosser. Clutter bothers me. And I'm not even a "neat" person per say, but just having a bunch of random junk in boxes, or cluttering up areas, drives me nuts.
 

Sweet72947

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#20
I used to be a real saver, but every time I go through things, I find I'm read to give more of it away. There are some things I'll always keep because they remind me of people and times I will always treasure.

One thing that has helped me become more of a "tosser" is moving around with my roommates. When you have to move, stuff becomes a real PITA. :p
 

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